Where do you find this info?
I'd also like to avoid getting stuck with a light bulb change, or other simple maintenance issue that is unreasonably difficult/expensive. But I've only founf generic 'total cost of ownership' numbers, or random complaints. Are these organized somewhere, by model?
-ERD50
ERD50,
I would browse forums like alt.frugality.something, a newsgroup. I don't think it exists anymore. Also rec.autos.tech, which does exist. After I found a few models that other like-minded frugals recommended, I went to more specific sites, like
Nissan Forum to get the dirty low-down reality, to see the specifics of what repairs if any were typical of that car. I got as specific as what year of Versa had what problems. Early years had some problems. In Fall of 2009 I bought a new 2009 Versa. The 2009's had been on the road for about a year already, so I had that data to refer to. I also refer to Consumer Reports, but as you know, they only have generic reliability ratings.
BTW, one of the websites said that the headlight in the V could only be removed by taking the fender off,
but turns out not to be the case.
I owned an 85 Chevy Caprice V8 for many years. CR rated it average in reliability, but the good thing was that more than half of the repairs it needed were doable by me, for $0 labor, plus parts. You could replace a part, like water pump, by just removing a few things out of the way, somewhat of a hassle, but not too bad. I had 425,000 on the odometer when I traded her in. Original engine and trans still working fine, no work done on either, just reg maint stuff.
Oh yeah, I asked my mechanic what cars were reliable, and all he would tell me was "Don't buy a Volkswagen". He hated working on them because they were so labor-intensive and he didn't want to charge his customers the full amount, since they would cuss him out, and maybe not return.
So they weren't money-makers for him.